Crossing the border with Blue Jays beat reporter Jordan Bastian.

Wow

I’ll admit it, I didn’t see this one coming. I thought if the Tigers escaped the first round with one win over the Yankees that’d be a success. I really didn’t see how any team could shut down New York’s offense. But as the old saying goes, good pitching beats good hitting. That’s even more true in a short playoff series.

So here we are, looking at a Detroit-Oakland ALCS. It only took a few minutes after the Tigers beat the Yankees in Game 4 for my wife’s phone to ring — one of her friends from Michigan calling to talk to me, to rub it in that the Tigers won. Good for them. It’s a great story — I just wouldn’t have predicted it, and I doubt many people did.

As far as the next round, I’m going to adjust my picks (I guess I have to with the Yankees bring out ) and I’m going to still go against Detroit. I like Oakland to go to the World Series. I’m sure all my friends in Michigan won’t mind me picking them, since picking the Yanks worked out so well for me.

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3 Comments

But it’s great to see a team three years removed from a 119-loss season defeating the team that has the unfair advantage in the financial landscape in the MLB.

Glad Yankees lost but now they’ll be even more desperate for improvement which does not sound good for the Jays next year. If only Jays could have snuck this year, their pitching when healthy could have been Tigers/A’s-like in the playoffs.

I think this goes to show that it’s not how much money you spend, it’s how well you spend it. Was A-Rod 2.5 times as good as Troy Glaus this season? Was Derek Jeter 40 times as good as John MacDonald? Having recently read Moneyball, I’m a little surprised that Ricciardi asked for more money, and that the company seemed willing to give it to him, when he was hired as the guy who didn’t say, “Give me $150M and I’ll win you the division.” Maybe they got someone willing and able to manage cheap and then found out the Toronto season ticket buyers are more star-centric than the ones in Oakland.

There is no I in team. Excellent work Tigers on beating the Yankees. Maybe now someone in their offic will learn that talent and egos do not go together. The fact of the matter is the Yankees got beat by a team not an I. Tho I’m sure Yankee office isn’t reading my comment and following my advice so next year we’ll see them once again in the post season, and once again not makig it to the World Series.

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